1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the purchasing of digital media items and, more specifically, to the use of a portable wireless device to identify and/or purchase digital media items.
2. Description of the Related Art
Digital media items are typically played by using either a digital media player or a media management application operating on a personal computer. While there is some overlap between media players and personal computers, for example, “hip tops”, which have many of the features of both, each device type has limitations. For instance, media players typically lack effective means to connect to high-speed computer networks and usually cannot read media files from removable storage media such as compact disks (CDs), while personal computers generally are not very portable when compared to most digital media players.
Currently, online purchase of digital media items is limited to personal computers. There are various reasons for this limitation, including a lack of functionality in an average media player. For instance, many media players lack sufficiently sophisticated user interfaces, have limited processing or storage capabilities, and lack network connectivity.
Another type of electronic device that has limited media file playback capability is a portable wireless device, which includes cellular phones and wireless personal digital assistants (PDAs). However, while some of these devices are capable of playing media files, they generally lack access to computer networks and/or lack the wireless bandwidth necessary to transfer media files, which are typically several megabytes (MB) in size.
There are situations when it would be convenient for the user of a portable wireless device to be able to purchase digital media items from an online media store in spite of the device's limitations. For instance, a consumer might hear a song on the radio and desire to purchase it right away. If the consumer does not have current access to a personal computer, then it will not be possible to purchase the song immediately. Unfortunately, by the time the consumer is able to get to his computer, there is a significant chance he will have forgotten about the song. This is a problem for both the consumer, who does not get the desired song, and the seller of music, who loses out on the sale of the song. Thus, there is a need for techniques to enable purchase of digital media items using portable wireless devices.